Review: Percy Jackson & the Lighting Thief by Rick Riordan

I am a sucker for fantasy novels! And I love Greek mythology. I was quite apprehensive about this book and had been debating for a while whether I should get my hands on a copy.

The problem was that I had seen the movie. The movie was not bad, fairly entertaining. But I never seem to enjoy a book after I have watched the movie. Honestly, I don't even always enjoy movies based on books because most of them don't do justice to the written word. Still reading before watching is my preference.

Anyways I was at a friend's place eating dinner, when I happened to see this book. Her 9 yr old son was reading it which only made me more nervous that it would be too childish of a read.

But still something possessed me and I decided to read it. I don't know if I am just old school but I love myths and legends cloaked in the mist of the past. I somehow can't relate to concept of an Ares as a biker dude, Medusa in a burger joint or Mount Olympus existing on top of the Empire State Building. 

Anyhow, I didn't enjoy the book. Part of it definitely was that it was a bit childish for me. What I did like were the little mythological tidbits, woven throughout the fabric of the writing, such as the war between the Gods and the Titans and Persephone's story. But I do feel that the movie ruined it for me to a large extent.

I am actually going to attempt to read the second book. Maybe that will change my opinion. Maybe not!

From Native to Refugee (Book Review of Basharat Peer's 'Curfewed Nights' by Lado)

Guest post by Lado

With the promise of sweetened nimbu pani or fresh juice I trailed behind my friend Sam into the Cafe Turtle Bookshop. One has to enter the Bookshop to get to the cafe. I’m usually excited about books, bookstores, the smell of books, new books,old books, comics but we’d just gotten waxed and I wasn’t in the mood to browse.


My friend recently quit her job and was quite happy to be back in Delhi and kill some time. She pottered around unaware of my impatient nimbu pani dreams. After I’d gently put across some hints to hurry it along, I finally asked her if we could “get a move on?” to which she replied by whipping a book in front of my face “I had terrible nightmares for a month – Lado you HAVE to read this book!”.

Ouch.

I’m not too keen on Indian authors as I’ve found some of them tediously slow and melancholic (especially diaspora writers).
I always say “I live in Delhi and see it everyday – I don’t have to read 600 pages on India’s poverty.” All it makes me want to do is kill myself.
I’m a fast reader but suicidal is not a feeling I want to sustain for 600 pages.


In any case I wanted to hurry along and get that nimbu pani but there’s no point in reasoning with Sam- stubborn Tauruses! She doesn’t get that buying someone a book is like buying perfume – its great if you have the same taste but if you don’t it’s a gift that’s likely to be unused or re-wrapped. Anyway I decided the quickest way to my nimbu pani was to shut up and go along with it. I could always pretend later that I’d read the book.


Anyway having seated ourselves and consumed our summer beverages, Sam and I decided to verbal spar, which turned into us bickering and then maybe having gotten heated up from the hair removal and the wait, I took some very regrettable shots at her. In any case things cooled down eventually, we ate a plate of spicy-chilli-nachos.I apologized for being an ass, but there was no escaping that I’d hurt her feelings.

I got home later and found the book in my bag – there was no way even I could justify not reading the book now.


It was a couple of hours well-spent. The book was engrossing and I read it quickly over a couple of mornings.The title of the book is ‘Curfewed Nights’ and it’s by Basharat Peer and he tells of having to grow up in a changing Kashmir; A living through of the “Kashmir stereotype”, one that underwent a horrible change – idyllic apple orchards to raging modern battleground.


The writer has a style I enjoy, it’s to-the-point, descriptive without being tedious and he manages to balance emotion that he feels (it’s autobiographical) with the events that are happening. He’s also had his journalistic training so he manages to put significant political events in without getting statistical. Through his personal experience you can feel how someone could have a personal experience of a political event, or how society reacts and how community and families are immediately affected by overreaching events like civil struggle and war.

I have to say I like-hate the book. Like it because it’s so well written and suits it’s purpose; Mira Nair said in an interview “If you don’t tell your stories, who will?. He tells the story of adolescence affected by war in Kashmir and does it spectacularly. Hate it – because it’s heart-wrenchingly sad. Kind of how the story of Kashmir is.
It stays with me as a metaphor for the beautiful state, the story of any displaced people, refugees who dream of a home that no longer exists.

Review: One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakurni

Summary: In an Indian passport and visa office in an American city, an unexpected earthquake traps nine people within the premises. The characters include an upper-class Caucasian couple whose relationship is disintegrating. A punky teenager and her Chinese grandmother, with secrets in her past. A Muslim-American man, whose life changes post 9/11. A graduate student haunted by questions of love. An African-American soldier who seeks redemption. And two visa officers who are on the verge of having an affair. As food and water supplies dwindle, the basement is flooding and no escape seems possible, these people share personal stories; "one amazing thing" they have never shared before, from their lives.

Review: This book is easy to read and fairly quick. I liked certain elements in it such as the concept of sharing personal stories, as tragedy strikes this group of characters. Each of them is subtly transformed by this process of sharing.

The book is quite short (It is 220 pages, I usually steer towards the 700 page novels) but she manages to bring the characters to life through their stories, as well as their interactions with each other. Some of the stories are definitely more powerful than others, one of my favorite being Jiang's.  Her story was the first one and after that my expectations were set high, so I felt disappointed by some of the others. There were images in the book that were vivid and memorable, such as Lola's beauty salon, Jiang's shoe store and the description of the bits of food. Other stories were not as effective. I was waiting for the soldier-Cameron's story, but felt a bit let down when it was finally revealed.  Tariq and Mrs. Pritchett's  story were quite clichéd and didn't really strike a chord with me.

Overall, it was an OK book. There is no doubt that Chitra Banerjee Divakurni is a skilled story teller but there are other books by her that I have definitely enjoyed more such as The Palace of Illusions, or even Queen of Dreams. In comparison, this book is much more forgettable; I did not get a lot from it. It was reasonably enjoyable but not of those books that stay with you.

Review: Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynn Truss

I am not a big non-fiction reader. I happened to come across this book on my friend Jayanth's bookshelf and I just starting browsing through it. It caught my interest right away.

I do understand the importance of correct punctuation and value it deeply in my reading. However, I wouldn't call myself a "stickler" (The author is a "stickler!" There is a picture of her adding the required apostrophe to a poster of  the movie Two Weeks Notice, on the back, inside cover of the book). At the same time, I felt compelled to read this book.

How can a book on punctuation be fun? It can be informative, instructive, but fun? This book with the tag-line "The Zero-Tolerance Approach to Punctuation," was actually a fun read! It is amazing that a mundane (but important) topic like punctuation can become such an interesting read.

Besides the history and evolution of various punctuation marks, the differences between British and American punctuation styles, and the subtleties of the usage of punctuation marks, what I loved about this book was the author's style of writing.


Witty and sarcastic, providing hilarious examples as to how punctuation can change the entire meaning of a piece of writing, Lynne Truss's passion for the subject shines through. She explains that despite the rules, punctuation, much like writing itself, can be subjective, and has room for creativity. She renders what could have been a boring, dreary read, into a comic, creative and illuminating journey delving on the importance of correct punctuation and its frequent misuses.

Review: Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Summary: Julia and Valentina Pool are twenty-real old twins, living in America, with no real interest in education or finding jobs. One day, they receive a letter informing them that they have inherited their aunt Elspeth has died of cancer, leaving to them her apartment in London. There are two conditions. They must live in it for one year before they sell it and that their parents can never enter the apartment. Elspeth was their Mother Eldie's estranged twin sister.
 They move to Elspeth's apartment, which borders Highgate Cemetery, where Karl Marx, Christina Rossetti and George Eliot are buried. In the apartment building, they meet Martin, who has an obsessive compulsive disorder, Robert, who was Elspeth's lover, and also the ghost of their aunt who still inhabits the apartment.

Review: I had mixed feelings about this book. There were parts of it that were enchanting, such as the description of Highgate Cemetery that emerges almost as an additional character. I also liked reading about the relationship between Martin and Marjake. But overall I can't say that I really enjoyed reading the book, despite the subtly of the emotional experience that it provides.

The whole twin relationship and the seeming loss of identity and the anxiety that characterized the Valentina-Julia relationship (and was suggested in the Elspeth-Edie relationship) seemed a bit clichéd to me. The aimlessness of the twins' lives also bothered me. All the characters were flawed and also quite quirky. I guess they did live next to a cemetery, but it made them less believeable.

The only relationship that I was sympathetic to was the Martin-Marjake relationship. Despite Matin's obsessiveness, he evoked the most empathy. Obsession becomes a recurring theme in the novel. There is the oppressive closeness of the twin sisters, Robert and Elspeth's frantic communication after her death, and his own obsession with the cemetery, so that his thesis is thousands of pages.

The book has dark undertones which become more vivid as it progresses. It is hard to talk about a lot of the ideas, without spoiling it for people who haven't read it. It is like a Victorian ghost story set in Contemporary times. I personally prefer the old school Gothic writing. A ghost writing "LOL" on an Ouija board is really not palatable for me.

It is a gripping book though, that is hard to put down. The story is developed nicely and keeps one engaged. One really gets a sense of the personalities of each of the characters. (Though for me, getting to know them really made me dislike a lot of them!) I would recommend it just for the description of Churchgate, the subtlety of the text and the haunting quality that seeps through the book. But I had been wanting to read it for a long time and was quite disappointed.

Review: "The Agony and the Ecstacy" by Irving Stone

Summary: A biographical novel based on the life of the great artist Michelangelo. It is based in the Renaissance times —the powerful Medici family, the monk Savonarola, and the political turmoil which in intrinsically linked with his art making. The novel begins in his childhood when he begins his first apprenticeship and ends with his death when he is almost ninety, spanning the years where he is possessed with the fury of making magnificent art.

Review: This epic novel was brilliant and inspiring. It brought to life the turbulent Renaissance times and the genius of Michelangelo. His need to create art pervaded the book. The longing which he felt to carve stone, superseded any other emotional attachment in his life. My favorite parts were the descriptions of his state of mind as he conceptualized new sculptures or paintings. He put so much thought even into the traditional and mythical figures like Mary, David, Hercules and Christ, figuring out which stage of life he wanted to reveal them in, what they were to signify and how to best achieve that.

David

His obsession with his art, was juxtaposed by the difficult scenarios he found himself in, where he was forced to stay away from that what he loved. Even as fame came to him, the Popes wanted him to create works to immortalize them, in the process drawing him away from that which drove him. He became a pawn in the political struggles that scarred the landscape of Italy. But even as he created works that he was compelled to do, he was unable to to do them in a mediocre way. He had to do them to the best of his ability, disregarding money, food and even sleep. I was fascinated to learn that the Sistine Chapel ceiling which he is famous for, was also a commission which dismayed him, as it kept him away from marble carving. His greatest love was for marble carving and the language of the book, in the description of the process of selecting, carving and even describing the marble, portays this beautifully.

It was interesting to see his relationship with other artists, especially Leaonardo Da Vinci and Raphael, two other famous artists of this period. In terms of the women in his life, only his relationship with his first love, Contessina, Lorenzo de Medici's daughter, stayed with me. His relationship with his family was difficult to read about. His father's lack of interest in his art and only in the money it brought is not surprising but frustrating.  

Sistine Chapel

Even though it was absorbing, the book was a slow read. I felt that his sense of purposelessness when he was not involved in creating art, coincided with the slowing down of the narrative. And when he was engrossed in making new works, the pages rushed by. This was my personal experience, probably because I  really enjoyed reading about his art-making. It was heart-breaking when the arm of his David broke due to a mob of fighting people. It makes one realize how ephemeral art can be. It took him years and years to create some of these works and they could be destroyed so easily. His bronze statue of one Pope was melted and made into a cannon, with the change in power structure. I actually felt anxious when there were discussions of painting over his Sistine Chapel painting as people thought it "ungodly."

Tomb of Julius II

Besides the actual process of art making, there was this fury to create art that pervaded the entire text, which I found captivating. He was so in love with his work that he dismissed any practical and logical thoughts, doing whatever he could to get his hands on marble. He was driven by bringing his own unique interpretation to his art, in a time where staying true to convention was revered in artists. He actually performed dissections, something he could have been hanged for, because he felt he must understand the inner workings of the body in order to display them in art. He defied a Pope, questioned all authority and challenged the best artists of his time. At the same time, he doesn't come across as a vain person, just someone who was solely consumed by his passion for his art.

Pieta

 

I think everyone should read this book to understand the trials and tribulations one of the greatest artist ever, faced in his lifetime. The book is perfectly titled "The Agony and the Ecstacy" because it is marked by these extreme emotions. It is a fascinating read about the Renaissance times, the power struggles, the questions of faith and most of all the genius of Michelangelo.

 

Review of Sarah Dunant's 'The Birth of Venus'

Summary: Alessandra Cecchi is a girl born during the Renaissance times, who is passionate about painting, not really a viable option for women in that era. When her father brings home a young painter to their house to decorate the chapel walls in the family's Florence Palazzo, she is drawn to him. But she is eventually married to a wealthy, older man.
Her story is in the foreground of Italy during the Renaissance times. There is the Medici family, patrons of the arts and learning. Challenging their power is the fundamentalist monk Savonarola. As life in Florence changes drastically, Alessandra once again has the opportunity to paint, and to love.

Review: I enjoyed reading this book. It vividly brought to life Florence during the Renaissance times. The historical framework was really exciting but it was the character of Alessandra that stayed with me. Rebellious by nature, drawn to life outside of her home and hearth, and a talented painter, it is difficult not to fall in love with her character. She chooses marriage to a wealthy, older man, only because it would help her escape life in a convent. She challenges conventions and stretches the limited options available to her, as a woman of that era.

She vocalizes her thoughts that there were no women artists during that time, because women did not have the access to learning, apprenticeships and the other opportunities that the men had, to improve their skills. Still, with her limited access to resources, she manages to paint. 

Her life becomes the foreground and in the background is the political turmoil in Florence. Questions of faith stem up as religion becomes a political tool (not much different from the state of the world today!) There are references to the beginning of dissection by artists to understand the inner working of the body, in order to reflect that in their work. This is of course a huge taboo. The other taboo is homosexual relationships, and the fate of the people accused is horrific.   

Overall, it is an engaging read, rich in detail but without being tedious. The history and personal lives of the characters intersect so that the personal becomes political and vica versa. I am excited to read the other books in Dunant's Italian Trilogy.